Cocktail Buns

This is another Hong Kong classic bun.  I grew up with this bun, too.  When I was younger, I prefer cocktail bun rather than pineapple bun.  Born with a sweet tooth, I loved the sweet filling inside cocktail buns.  Pineapple buns, on the other hand, only has a sweet cookie topping which, in my opinion, wasn't as good as cocktail buns.  And the crust topping on the pineapple buns can make a mess when they fall apart while eating :p Now I'm all growth up, I actually love both of them!  Today I will post the recipe for cocktail bun as one of my friends requested it :) and I'll post the recipe for pineapple bun later.

Cocktail buns
(16 servings ~ 170 calories each)
recipe adapted from here
Ingredients:

For buns:
Basic white bread recipe

For filling:
1/4 softened butter
1/8 cup non-fat milk
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
8 tbsp dried coconut flakes
1 tsp custard powder

For Mexican topping: (I only used about half of this)
4 tbsp softened butter
5 tsp sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:

1) Prepare basic white dough with a bread machine
















2) After the dough cycle is completed, punch dough, then divide dough into 16 pieces and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest for 15 minutes.

3) Prepare filling: cream softened butter with sugar in a bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy, stir in dry milk powder, flour and coconut until the mixture is smooth and well blended.  Add milk as necessary. 

4) Preheat oven to 375F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

5) Fill white bread dough with fillings, cover with plastic food wrap, let rise until double in size about 30-40 minutes.  When ready, bush with eggwash, sprinkle sesame seeds to garnish and pipe two lines of the Mexican topping on top of each bun. 

6) Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.